S.K. Nicholls's Blog, page 57
February 18, 2014
How to Eat for a Year on the Cost of a Timex
Jon, the bartender, had told me about being up for a management position at Brio Tuscan Grille. He was hoping for the Assistant Manager’s position as it would mean more money, his rent was due, his wife just had a baby, he had a two year old at home, and his car was on it’s last leg.
Brio was always the hopping joint in the Village by 8:00 PM, but it was early yet. A long day’s work behind me, I kicked off my heels, and hung my suit coat across the back of my bar stool. Within minutes, I was sitting there quietly at the bar dining on a large platter of beef carpaccio with arugla, capers and Dijon, warm bread in herb infused oils, flat breads, and sipping a glass of Shiraz.
The place was empty except for two distinguished businessmen in suits a ways down the bar from me. Known to eavesdrop for learning purposes, I listened as they spoke about corporate plans and entrepreneurial joint ventures. They also had a few words to say about bitter wives.
In came Roxie, a member of the Winter Park Wives Club. Not a formal Wives Club like the Women’s League of this or that, but an informal name I had given to the large group of high maintenance women who gathered on Thursday nights to gossip about whose secretary was doing whose husband and what they hoped to gain from such relationships. Sometimes, being invited to their tables, I was privy to their secrets and knew Roxie to be one of the more vicious women who had owned a small cafe in the Village that had gone bust, and had a penchant for jewelry. She was separated from her husband who had been let go from a legal firm and had a new, hot-bodied, young, boyfriend, Jarred, an architect.
“Jon, Jon, Look here!” she called from across the room holding her left arm out to dangle her flashy new piece.
White tassels shimmying on her short white dress with with every step, she bounced across the room to the bar. With her dark hair cut short and curled slightly around her face, and deep red lipstick, she resembled a flapper from the 1920s. Her high heels made her walk awkward with her lean long legs, and her bulging flesh was oozing out from around every orifice of her skin tight dress. She draped her bosom across the bar, still with arm extended.
“Jarred, bought it for me. It’s a diamond watch.”
“That’s pretty,” said Jon.
“I don’t like it,” I piped in.
“What’s not to like about it?” she asked.
“It has no numbers on the dial.”
“Who needs numbers?”
“I’m a nurse, I need numbers.”
“Well, I’m not and I don’t.”
“It has no second hand”
“What would I need that for?”
“To take a pulse.”
“I don’t plan on taking any pulses.”
“You just might need to.”
“I don’t need to. Isn’t it pretty? Cost him thousands of dollars.”
“It’s pretty, but it’s not functional.”
“It functions.”
“No, it has no numbers. It has no second hand. It has no indiglo.” I held out my Timex and showed her my large faced $15.00 watch, with it’s blue indiglo backlight. “I can see this baby in the dark.”
“Well, I don’t need to see my watch in the dark. I want one that sparkles in the light.”
“Pretty, but still not functional. Might as well have been a bracelet.”
“Humph! I’m not a working woman. I’m a kept woman, and I don’t need functional.”
“Well, I’m a working woman. When I work past noon, I can even even see military time at a glance.” I showed her my watch again.
“Well, you need to get off your feet more and onto your back.” Abruptly she turned to leave. “See you later, Jon,” she call out behind her.
Jon continued washing his glasses, and I noticed the two businessmen had been watching this whole show.
Businessman one stands, reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet, counts out five hundred dollars, and slides it across the bar in my direction. “Buy yourself a pretty watch,” he says with a smile.
Oh, no, I can’t take your money. I was just giving her a hard time. Don’t like her type.”
“Well I don’t either, and you deserve a pretty watch for holding your own.”
Not to be outdone, Businessman two reaches in his breast coat pocket and pulls out his wallet, counts out five hundred dollars, and slides it against the first pile of bills. “WE don’t like her type.”
They insisted. Before I could thank them, they were gone, with the pile of cash laying there on the bar.
I looked at Jon and he at me.
“I’ll tell you what Jon. Break this for me.” I handed him $100.00 bill.
He did.
“I need $20.00 for gas.” I took out $20.00, paid $40.00 for my dinner, placed $940.00 in the tip jar, and left.
I ate free at Brio for the entire year I worked in admissions for hospice. Every Thursday, after 12 hours on the street, going from crisis to emotional crisis, I would go by my Winter Park office, drop off my paperwork and head over to hang out with bartenders, Texas and Paul, and Jon, the new Assistant Manager at Brio Tuscan Grille. Occasionally I dined with the Winter Park Wives Club just for shits and giggles.
Filed under: Humor, Short Stories Tagged: businessmen, diamond watch, high maintenance woman, jewelry, jobs, Jon the bartender, nursing stories, Timex, watches, working woman
February 17, 2014
Thread Of Life
Roxi St. Clair has a short poem here that is absolute genius.
Originally posted on ROXI ST. CLAIR:
Numberless people thread it in a million different ways
weaving us with joy, sorrow, the past and present —
sweetness of meetings and tears of farewell.
Some may journey with us for awhile
monogramming their souls upon us —
while others, in time,
sever their thread.
We are cut from the same fabric of Creation —
with many different hues and textures
lacing it with our unique notions
absorbing tear-soaked memories
or wrapping ourselves
in warmth of love.
Filed under: Uncategorized
February 16, 2014
Zen Floating: Sunday Synopsis
Looking at last week’s goals, I will tell you quickly that this week was more productive than last week. I have no earthly idea how my online persona comes across, but I don’t doubt in the least that my bipolar tendencies show through, whether medicated or not.
I did not get my oil changed, but I did get it scheduled.
I decided to keep writing. I post a lot about this WIP because your thoughts and ideas are important to me. I do feel like this project is going to take years, not months, to do the story justice. Also, I am trying to hone my creative writing skills, not simply tell you a story about events. I am reading much and learning much. I am about four chapters in, and I have rewritten two. I finally feel like I have a worthy first chapter to present to my writing meet up group. I am actually looking forward to sharing with them, and getting their feedback, even if it means rewriting again.
I still have not distributed my paperbacks to the independent bookstores yet. I have been putting that off, in part, because the paperback does not seem to have the appeal that I thought it would. I literally had dozens of people, nurse friends mostly, encouraging me to put the book in paperback form, so I did. So many friends and family said they would love to read it but they don’t have digital reader devices of any sort. I let everyone know that it was ready in POD. So far, I have sold ONE book! Seriously, ONE!
The four five star reviews and one four star review from Reader’s Favorite were used to create one review to post as an editorial on my Amazon page. I think one fairly short review says more than five long, verbose reviews could say.
The Goodreads Giveaway is still going on through March 3rd, so if you haven’t entered, there is still time to do that. In addition to giving away two paperback books, there are also a couple of $10.00 Amazon gift cards up for grabs. I am hoping you can buy more books with the money, but you can spend it on anything you like.
Also, “Red Clay and Roses” is a gift item in a Rafflecopter sponsored by Charles Yallowitz, creator of The Legends of Windemere fantasy series in celebration of the one year anniversary of the release of the series’ first book, “Beginning of a Hero”. There are lots of cool prizes, ebooks and paperbacks by various authors, gift cards, and swag. You can enter; see the gifts, and learn how to earn points here: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/24ecf12/
Earning points is easy! These are valuable items, and it costs you nothing but a few moments of your time. Well worth the investment. It is a big offer and there will be many winners. Be a winner!
That wraps up all of my business and author goals. Now on to the other fun stuff I did this week.
For those who follow me on Facebook, you know I babysat grandchildren on Valentine’s Day. The four year old was no problem, but the 10 month old has severe separation anxiety. It was sort of fun, even though it was rather challenging. “Attachment bonding” may be a trendy thing for parents, but four hours of incessant screaming is not likely to help make grandparents feel well bonded to your child.
Yesterday, I finally got around to doing the Zen Floating thing. For those who haven’t heard of floating, it is sensory deprivation and the current fad among the chic and sophisticated. It is supposed to provide for deep relaxation, both mental and physical. Although many claim to have hallucinatory experiences with the depth of mental relaxation involved, I did not have such. Maybe I am on too many psychotropic drugs designed to prevent such nonsense. Now I have had hallucinatory experiences in the past, so I was keen on what to expect. It didn’t happen for me, but it may happen for you.
As you can see, the sensory deprivation chamber is rather intimidating. It is a deep, wide vault of total darkness filled with warm water with a salinity more concentrated that that of the Dead Sea. It is impossible to sink in there, as the salt water makes you buoyant. The door to this crypt is heavier than Ralphie May, closes down on you like the trunk lid of a car, and you are in there naked and alone.
Even for me, not at all claustrophobic, there was an instant, but fleeting, sensation of panic and suffocation. It abated as I stretched out and relaxed in the 94 degree water, breathing the 94 degree air.
I have boiled sweetened condensed milk in the can into caramel. I felt as if I were going to come out transformed in some way from that which I went in. It was not nearly as serene as the pictures below. First, there is no light in there. Second, try to imagine the humidity such an environment makes. I felt as if I were fluidly evolving into some otherworld being. My body, the water, the air, all became as one. It was warm, wet, and weirdly exhilarating. It was also quiet enough to hear the blood pulsing through my veins. The only relief from the lack of any stimulation at all came from the sound of trickling water as I repositioned my arms across my chest.
The first fifteen, or so, minutes was tough. I thought about trying to open the door just a hair to let in some fresh air. I chose not to, because I wanted to have the full sensory deprivation experience, right? Also, like I said before, that door is heavy. You can’t open it from the inside while lying down. So I relaxed and drifted both mentally and physically, melting away into the moments.
I thought I might relax enough to fall asleep and just enjoy not being at all disturbed by anything or anybody. Instead, I wrote an entire chapter of my WIP in my head while I was in there. I just couldn’t recall the words or phrases when I got out. A good forty-five minutes into this, I was floating away into oblivion when I had a sudden image of fifty one and two star reviews on my book. Don’t ask me why. Then blackness, nothingness. Fifteen minutes later, soft music began playing, signaling me that my time was over. I sat up and positioned myself to push the tombstone away. Upon opening the door, I finally had an opportunity to breathe, filling my lungs with refreshment.
I wouldn’t pay fifty dollars to do that again. I did this as a groupon that was gifted to me. While I think everyone might benefit from having done it once, I don’t think it is something that everyone will want to do on a regular basis. There were some benefits; my chronic shoulder pain was relieved, and I was pretty mellow for the remainder of the evening, much like warm pudding.
For our Valentine’s date we spent the evening at the Parliament House gay resort on Orange Blossom Trail, the notorious homosexual/tranny club and motel that is situated on Orlando’s famous hooker haunt. First, we went to the theater and witnessed the hilarious comedy murder mystery, “Carolina Moon”, a campy trailer trash tragedy. The production was performed by two excellent white male actors who played a dozen roles (both male and female) in the story of the trailer park that once occupied the space that the Parliament House is located on and the people who lived there, including (but not limited to) a detective, a couple of rednecks, a drunk woman in curlers whose husband kept her on a leash and who kept her whiskey in a trash can, a black hooker from the trail, Lenny who lived in an iron lung, a scuba diver who owned a one legged duck, a retired waitress, a little girl in a tutu who lived in the dumpster, and of course, the murderess, a woman who built a hundred foot Tupperware sculpture on her front lawn (the Tupperware Headquarters was once located here). Okay, you probably had to be there, but it was funny. There were tons of insider jokes about Orlando, and the whole story of how the Parliament House came to be was told, so it was most entertaining, educational, too. I learned what a plushie is.
Then we dined at the Rainbow Café on lobster bisque and filet mignon. After which, we strolled around the pool patio under the propane heaters, checking out the vendors. I was a tiny bit uncomfortable being a woman in such a crowd even though there were many other women. We went in the sex shop and I had a sudden urge to buy a strap on. My penis envy almost got the best of me, but I didn’t want to have to carry it into the next theater show. The general atmosphere was amazingly warm and receptive. The crowd was extremely diverse, from biker dudes in bandannas to steampunks in steel, all with leather accessories.
To kill some time we wandered through the wildly dressed in the seven dance clubs. The evening was topped off by Ru Paul’s Drag Race season three series winner RAJA in the theatrical production of “The Red Ball”. A colorful and fascinating show to say the least. This was a benefit for The Hope and Help Center, an AIDS awareness program.
Oh, I almost forgot!
My Ereader News Promotional Update:
I put “Red Clay and Roses” in another category this time. Last time I had it in historical fiction and discounted from $3.99 to $2.99. Over the course of two weeks it sold a couple of hundred copies and I felt it was quite successful. Of course the rankings improved.
This time I listed it in literary fiction and again, a couple of hundred copies moved, but at 99 cents.
I don’t think price makes that much difference when people feel like they are getting a bargain because of the way that it is advertised. Granted, the historical fiction subscribers are much greater in number than the literary fiction subscribers, but I did expect to move more at 99 cents. Oddly, the rankings rose significantly higher with #3 made in one category. With a royalty of 35% on 99 cent sales, I’m not racing out to buy a new car or anything. It would be nice to sell in thousands, but hundreds beats zeros.
That’s the wrap up on my week. Next week, I plan to get those paperbacks distributed. Oh! And Write!
Filed under: Sunday Synopsis Tagged: Carolina Moon, floating, Goodreads giveaway, Parliament House, Rafflecopter, Ralphie May, The Red Ball, Valentine's Day, zen floating
February 15, 2014
Beyond Darkness: Shattered by Sarah Cradit
The long anticipated novella sequel to The Storm and the Darkness is now available across most major online retailers!
Coming Soon: Itunes, Sony, Diesel
Anasofiya Deschanel fled to Maine to escape her mistakes. She learned quickly, and violently, you cannot run from what’s inside you.
Following a series of unfortunate events, Ana finds herself drowning in the consequences of actions which left her heart cruelly divided between the St. Andrews brothers. Jon’s embrace of darkness soon turns to dangerous cruelty, while Finn’s kind heart offers a promise of love she does not feel she deserves. Between all three of them lies a secret with the potential to change everything.
When the truth comes crashing down, Ana is forced to face the same demons she once ran from. As she learns more about who she is, and the situation she’s created, these realizations drive her to a desperate decision that will change everyone’s lives, forever.
Character Teasers
The House of Crimson and Clover
The Sullivans, a family of hard-working Irish lawyers, came from nothing and built a life they can be proud of. The Deschanels amassed incredible wealth by siding with the North during the Civil War, betraying their people. Both New Orleans families have a dark and rich history, painted with secrets, treachery, and colorful, supernatural abilities.
The House of Crimson and Clover unravels the mysteries surrounding both families, pulling us further into their tangled, enigmatic lives.
While the series is meant to be treated as one long narrative, each book can stand alone and be enjoyed without having read the other books. I’ve created pages for each of the books in the series, with story descriptions and other info.
Recommended Reading Order:
Series Prequel- St. Charles at Dusk
Book 1- The Storm and the Darkness
Book 1.5- Beyond Darkness: Shattered
Book 2- The Illusions of Eventide
Book 2.5- Beyond Eventide: Bound
(More on the horizon…)
Also, read what reviewers are saying about The House of Crimson & Clover
Filed under: Book Reviews and Books Tagged: Beyond Darkness: Shattered, House of Crimson and Clover series, novella, Sarah Cradit
February 14, 2014
Beyond Darkness: Shattered is HERE!
This is an excellent series. if you have not started reading, I suggest you start now. Highly recommended and Romance usually is not my thing. Truly set apart from the typical romance.
Originally posted on ...and then there was Sarah:
The long anticipated novella sequel to The Storm and the Darkness is now available across most major online retailers!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Red Clay and Roses for Less Than a Dollar!
There is a fancy word for S.K. Nicholls’ novel; “Red Clay and Roses” is a roman à clef. (pronounced romanaclay) This is what I refer to as Faction, or a fictionalized true story. If you have been curious about this impressive literary work, gather up your pennies and head on over to Amazon or Smashwords and buy your copy today for 99 cents for the full sized novel.
That’s right, 99 pennies!
Never before offered at this easily affordable price,
“Red Clay and Roses” is now on sale!
A kickoff for a two week long sale, the novel will be featured on Ereader News Today in the category of literary fiction starting tomorrow.
Unique in that it crosses genres of Historical Fiction and Literary Fiction we decided to promote in the Literary Fiction category for this sale and hope to sell a few books.
Actually,
Our hope is to sell out the ebook, which people say is impossible, but I say is inevitable.
So please do your bit by buying, gifting and spreading the word.
While the book is available at Amazon and Smashwords today, over the next few days it will also be available at the same 99 cent price across all platforms; including, Barnes& Noble, Apple iBooks, and 
Kobo. This sale will be running for two weeks.
Beat the crowd, and raise the ranks!
Filed under: Marketing Tagged: 2 week sale, 99 cent sale, all platforms, Amazon, Apple iBooks, Bargain ebooks, Barnes & Noble, digital copy, Kickoff, Kobo, Red Clay and Roses, smashwords, Valentine's Day
February 13, 2014
Twenty-One Things I Learned by Age Fifty
1. Money cannot buy everything, but it can buy peace of mind. Work hard and smart to earn, save, and be frugal.
2. Love is not simply when they mean everything to you; love is when you mean everything to them.
3. Emotional pain hurts worse than physical pain and takes longer to heal.
4. Elastic is one of the greatest inventions of all times.
5. You are going to make mistakes. Laughing over your mistakes is healthier than crying over them.
6. You cannot expect people to support you if you are not supporting them.
7. Anger will fade if you give it time and do not obsess over it. Forgiveness helps.
8. Serenity is knowing that the good does not last forever, but neither does the bad.
9. Nobody can do it better than you.
10. Palm tree leaves are pretty but they have spikes that sting like a wasp and penetrate deeply.
11. Moderation is the best approach to most anything.
12. We all have selective memory.
13. Meditation and prayer work wonders, even if you are an atheist.
14. A smile and an expression of gratitude can make someone’s day.
15. Children do not just want attention they need attention.
16. Breast fed children are not necessarily better adjusted or healthier.
17. Today is tomorrow’s yesterday.
18. Don’t regret the past nor wish to close the door on it.
19. I feel more like I do now than I did before.
20. A wise young man will be a wise old man, this not to imply that a wise old man was a wise young man.
21. Virginity is like a balloon, one prick and it’s over.
Filed under: The Grandmother Journal Tagged: age, fifty, lists, thoughts on aging, wise
Writing Group Experience
I promised myself I was going to try to be more positive minded this week. I have been working on that, but this post might not reflect such.
I joined a writer’s group about six weeks ago. This has a little to do with my personal insecurities. I seriously want to hone my skills before I put another work out there. I sit at my computer all day and pound out words. There is no one here to critique. When I go back to read it, it all makes sense. My husband says it is engaging and interesting, but what does he know, right?
Six weeks ago, this writers group met and I got to know everyone, but the venue was noisy and crowded. Not much was accomplished beyond getting introduced. We chatted awhile on everyone’s current projects, and it was mentioned that they are on chapter seven of a chain story that could be found in the files of the meet up group online.
I never made the time to read the chain story. I haven’t been in touch with anyone since that first meeting, as I missed the last meeting two weeks ago. They picked a new venue with a private room and much quieter, so it was decided that everyone would bring a short piece of their work to read; only I did not know about this decision, so I came empty handed last night. I was ill-prepared but they were forgiving.
The members are all at varying levels of progress. Some are fledglings and some are published. I got to listen to others read and the varied writing styles as a whole were quite remarkable. They are supportive and kind to one another and I feel comfortable. Again raise my insecurities. We all provided useful information to help each other out while remaining kind and supportive. It was a great feeling and I regretted not having any of my own work to share. This would have been a wonderful time to ask those questions my husband can’t answer about my first chapter.
Is it a good opening paragraph? Is it too much exposition? Do I wait too long to get to the action? Is it showing the history of chaos the two sisters grew up in? Does the back story and history get too tedious? Is it necessary? Am I telling the story rather than showing how these characters are relating to one another? Do you see fairly clearly and quickly the beginning of development of the character personalities? Namely the mother and two daughters? Is it engaging enough to make you want to know more about the characters and the story?
I have a good story, can I master the execution to make it a great story?
This is the beginning of a novel, not a short story, so it may be more spread out, more in-depth than a short story. Does it work?
I have two weeks to wait for the next meeting.
I plan to forge ahead, knowing that all the questions in my mind, when answered, may force a rewrite, and at the same time, might be just fine.
My insecurities. I can’t deny that I am in a place of self-doubt.
Should I rewrite my first chapter until I have no more questions?
What do you think? Leave it alone until we meet again, or work on fixing what I have doubts about?
Filed under: Writing Process/WIPs Tagged: chapter one, execution, insecurities, self doubt, writer's group
February 12, 2014
Fail big
This is such a positive post I just had to reblog it. So often we see the negatives and self doubt online and we all need words of encouragement.
Originally posted on Gwen Hernandez:
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing. ~ Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln knew how to fail big. He also knew how to win.
Filed under: Uncategorized
February 11, 2014
Stand Alone or Series
This is a comparative post about two different story lines and how they would best be served, the feedback I received on writing my last novel and the feedback I have received on writing my current novel (s). Therein lays the dilemma.
I will try not to ramble. These are thoughts floating around in my head, so they may come out a bit disorganized. My head is like that.
If you have read “Red Clay and Roses” this will make much more sense to you, but you should be able to follow the idea even if you have not. “Red Clay and Roses” really turned out to be a family saga. It was; however forced into one book which covered a long time period. Being a fictionalized true story presented challenges. I did not want to deviate tremendously from what actually occurred.
Not setting out to write a novel, I wrote the book the way the events actually happened:
The Introduction: In 2012, Hannah recalling finding the ledger in 1992.
Part One: The interviews of interesting people involved in what occurred in the 1950s and 60s that took place in 1992-93 when Hannah found the ledger.
Part Two: Followed that with the story learned from Sybil, a cousin of Hannah’s who was deeply enmeshed with ledger and those people involved in the 1950s and 60s. This story that was gleaned from her diaries was put together in novel form rather than as diary entries.
Then, the conclusion, again in 2012, was derived from Hannah’s personal experience in bringing her lost family members together after so many years.
The problem here is that Hannah is a main character, but is not even born until 1960. She should have never been a main character. In fact, she might not have been involved at all until 2012 when she pulls the strands of the family together in a most hopeful outcome.
I struggled with determining main characters from the get go. Whose perspective did I want this book written in? I wrote it in Hannah’s because that was the perspective that I could most personally relate to. Part One ended up being written in first person and Part Two was written in third person. We go back to first person in the conclusion.
While the family saga played out nicely as a story line, the writing styles were fucked up. They muttled the story line making things somewhat confusing to follow. There was an enormous amount of ground to cover as cohesively as possible from 1953 to 2012. The back story derived from the interviews, which I read two opposing viewpoints on just today, could have easily been used for character development. The story could have started in 1953, culminated in 1971, with the finale in 2012. Instead, I have these two characters, Moses Grier and Ms. Bea, the good doctor’s wife, ancillary characters actually, relating events that occurred in their lives in the 1930s and 1940s. How fucked up is that?
So, the severe critique that I received recently has me thinking about the main character’s importance. I used the good doctor as an ancillary character, when he could have very well been the main character. I don’t know if I would have done a trilogy as the critique suggested, but approaching the story from that angle could have certainly simplified much of the story. There would have been a lot less unnecessary information, and the other characters would have been strengthened in their roles as they related to him.
Okay, this is all hindsight. I won’t be re-writing this story. I have no plans to turn it into a trilogy. But the critique has me thing about my current work.
“Red Clay and Roses” is a very good book, if you have the intelligence to process the purpose of Ms. Bea’s psychosis into how it relates to the storyline, and Moses’ grief and how it relates to the story line. Covering such a long time span from 1953-1971 in the bulk of the story was an enormous amount of information in a 445 page book. The pace was good and there was a lot of action (certainly not the kind that has flying unicorns with stars shooting out of their rainbow colored wing tips). It is a deeply reflective story, powerful and thought provoking.
I can’t expect all readers to have that sort of mind. Especially with all of the simplistic formulaic “book mill” material people are producing and reading these days, both traditional and independent. True literature is fast becoming a dead horse. People don’t want to think deeply, they want TV action.
I am; however, looking at my current work in progress and trying to assure I don’t make similar mistakes with the character development. I am also trying to decide if I need to do this as one book or; perhaps, a trilogy.
I feel a need to say something here: I don’t write, nor do I plan to write mainstream genre fiction!
SEROIUSLY, IF YOU BELIEVE THAT EVERY WRITER ASPIRES TO BE TRADITIONALLY PUBLISHED YOU ARE WRONG!
While there are many traditionally published books that I love, there are also many independently published books that I love. There are traditionally published books that I have laid down and could not finish and there are independently published books that I have set aside. I don’t feel that traditional is synonymous with quality. I also don’t feel that traditional publishing is synonymous with success. I have known many amazing and talented musicians who never cut a recording deal. Does that make them any less talented or amazing?
There is a lot wrong with traditional publishing in my opinion. It has become far too formulaic and genre specific for marketing purposes. It has become a commercial industry losing its value in the area of creativity. Industry standards govern production to a point where authors are telling authors what is right or wrong about their product based on genre specific sales data, rather than literary merit. I don’t mean helpful writing advice or suggestions, but how to make it fit into a marketable box. The tired, but tried and true, heroes and heroines with their happy endings in romance, and the criminals/villains with no color captured by the enterprisingly clever crime fighters bore me to tears. But they sell tons.
Are you trying to write an overnight marketable product or are you trying to develop great literature? Truly great literature, like Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, Anne Rice and John Grisham, Tolkien and Rowling started as something much smaller than a best seller. There are many pieces of great literature that are only one book. Here are ten popular books by authors who never wrote more than one book:
1
Dead Medium
by Peter John
2
Shadow Hills
by Anastasia Hopcus
3
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
4
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
5
The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde
6
Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
7
The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
8
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
9
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell
10
Doctor Zhivago
by Boris Pasternak
Maybe I am in this thing for the wrong reasons. I don’t have a writing career objective.
I write with passion for the pure pleasure of writing.
I read volumes of historical fiction. I like learning about different time periods while I read. The stories are varied and colorful and often have unpredictable outcomes. My husband reads volumes of crime novels. He can always predict the outcome, but he has gotten bored with the traditionally published novels. He reads two or three a week and it is the same story told ten thousand ways. Good guys catch bad guys. If it weren’t for some regional authors, he would have given up on them long ago. He is starting to branch out into some interesting independent work that has him fascinated. Misha Burnett’s series is an example. I am proud of them both. Misha for writing such a captivating set of books, and my husband for giving them a try.
Now that I have rambled off topic for a few paragraphs, let me get back to my point. The trilogy idea.
This new work in progress is also a family saga of sorts. It also takes place in the 1950s and goes into the 1990s, so I am seriously thinking of breaking it into a three book series, not necessarily for marketing purposes, but because of the time span involved. I don’t want to rush or gloss over important relationships.
Not being altogether a true story, there is no inherent need to lay it out as it happened. Book One will cover Claudette and Carol coming of age struggling through a sordid past and dealing with the humiliations of mental illness.
Book Two will cover Carol’s suicide, Claudette’s dealing with the suicide and her healing process that involves helping others heal through music.
Book Three will cover Claudette’s own daughter’s suicide and how she processes through that while guiding her niece through the loss of her cousin who seemed like a sister to her as they grew up together and both became professional nurses; the latter book giving me opportunity to write my own autobiography contribution of sorts that I have been working on as a side project, and including my story in theirs.
This might actually lead to a Book Four.
I don’t intend to do this for marketing purposes, but to write three or four compelling novels that stand as a series. I would not release one, until I had all three or four ready for release. We are talking years down the road, but what do I have but time? I am not paying any bills here.
If you have managed to follow this long ramble on my disordered thought process, what do you think, stand alone or series?
Another question, and one I struggle with in all of my writing, what person to write in?
In a series, do I need to stay with third person if I start with third person?
Filed under: Writing Process/WIPs Tagged: critique, independent, series, stand alone books, traditional, trilogy, WIP, writing objectives
